Daryl talks about the Often Overlooked theatrical anime classic Hols (Horus?), Prince of the Sun. Gerald reviews the City Hunter sequel Angel Heart, and Clarissa picks up from part of the discussion in the last episode to talk about fansubs, scanlations, and their relevance in anime fandom today.
Faced with insurmountable obstacles such as Gerald being out of the country, Daryl declaring himself Mayor and assaulting his constituents with pies on the coldest night of the year (click here for pictures), and Clarissa being a girl, our second episode experienced many untimely delays in getting everyone together to record. But we’re back and better than ev…er, marginally improved!
Introduction (0:00 – 11:10)
We read excerpts from some of the listener feedback and respond. Be sure to send us email at animeworldorder@gmail.com with your name, where you’re from, and what you think of the show and we’ll take your advice under consideration! This week we’ve all decided to get headsets, record the show at 44100 Hz, and ensure that the left and right audio channels are the same volume for the whole show! Please let us know if you encounter any issues with the sound quality. Next time around, we’ll try recording everyone’s voices on separate tracks the way we should have been doing from the get-go.
Let’s News! (11:10 – 20:58)
We follow-up on last week’s new items by mentioning Bandai Visual USA’s homepage is now up, then after proclaiming the superiority of the Emotion logo with the vector Easter Island heads note that this webpage which Gerald misreads the URL for during the broadcast and nobody catches him on it contains side by side comparisons of the audio from the Japanese Macross, Robotech, and ADV’s English dub. We’ll go easy and not zero in on the “pudknocker” line. As for this week’s [outdated] news, the author of Slam Dunk has been accused of plagiarism, and we ponder anime’s future with this whole Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD thing since this was recorded around CES time.
- Mainichi Daily News article regarding Slam Dunk plagiarism allegations
- Site comparing NBA photos to Slam Dunk drawings side-by-side
- Official Blu-Ray website
- Official HD-DVD website
- Engadget’s comparison between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD
Anime Hell Promo (20:58 – 2:31)
AnimeHell.org sent us the first in what will be a series of promos, but since everyone was off at Ohayocon doing Anime Hell there, the promo was actually just a trailer to Zardoz. Uh oh, better not tell Steve Harrison’s mom! You can get plenty of other silly movie trailers and much, much more by visiting the site! Anime Hell: it’s coming to a convention near you! If you’ve got promos, email us with them and we’ll intersperse a few of them throughout the show to break things up a bit.
Often Overlooked (22:31 – 35:45)
Daryl tells us all about Hols, Prince of the Sun, only he forgets to look at the notes he took while watching the film that would help assure him that what he was saying would have some basis in fact. For example, contrary to what is stated, Studio Ghibli does in fact consist of MORE than just two people!
- Anime News Network’s Hols, Prince of the Sun page
- Helen McCarthy’s book on Hayao Miyazaki
Rotating Segment – Fandom Stuff (35:45 – 48:42)
Clarissa leads off in a discussion about fansubs, scanlations (man, I hate that word), and their relevance/necessity in anime fandom. Eventually everyone chimes in and the conversation progresses like…well, the same way it always does.
- ICv2 interview regarding The Anime Network
Review (48:42 – 1:02:21)
Gerald handles the review this week, which is for the first six episodes of Angel Heart, the new sequel to City Hunter. Note that this contains spoilers for those episodes and probably also City Hunter. Gerald wishes it to be known in this space that Tsukasa Hojo is the author of City Hunter, a fact he forgot to mention in the review. Actually, he kept saying the author was Tetsuo Hara. Clearly Daryl’s influence is spreading like a virus.
- Official Angel Heart webpage (Japanese)
- Official Tsukasa Hojo webpage (Japanese)
Closing (1:02:21 – 1:04:20)
We wrap things up by doing the obligatory begging people to rate and review us on sites like iTunes, Podcast Pickle, and so on and so forth before moving on to the next episode preview. Next time (which will be much sooner than the last delay between episodes), we’re spitting in the face of common sense and dedicating the entire show to mecha, which just might be the least popular genre of anime in this day and age. Look forward to Daryl’s review of Gundam SEED Destiny: Final Plus, Gerald’s creator spotlight on Shoji Kawamori, and Clarissa’s choice for Often Overlooked is King of Braves: GaoGaiGar! See? The Often Overlooked segment doesn’t HAVE to be about old stuff after all!
What is Anime World Order and Anime Hell? are they movies or TV shows?, and does it cost money to view it.
If you look at the top of our webpage, it states that Anime World Order is “a podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga.” In other words, it is a show about Japanese cartoons and comicbooks. Our podcast is audio-only and is offered via the extremely common MP3 format.
It costs nothing to listen to the shows. Just download the MP3s by clicking the links that say “Click Here to Listen.” Or, you can subscribe to the site’s live feed via various free services, a few of which are listed in the sidebar on the right of the page. The most popular tool for doing this is iTunes. Subscribing to the site feed means you will automatically be able to tell when the site has been updated without having to manually check yourself.
The question of what is Anime Hell has been answered within our podcast as well as the Anime Hell website, which is linked to within the show notes for this week and is also linked to on the sidebar of the website. Per the Hell manifesto it is defined as “a presentation . . . put on at various anime cons. It’s sort of a visual disc-jockey kind of thing–short clips of bits from Japanese cartoons, commercials, movie trailers, educational films, short animated films, pop culture detrius, bleeps, blunders, and practical jokes.” You can read the full text of the manifesto by going to the Anime Hell website, and I also recommend you read the guide for conventions.
Neat to see my message got read!
Yes, Jerry Beck is the Jerry Beck of anime (he was with Macek in founding Streamline some 16-17 years ago, I was in the 6th/7th grade at the time when it all happened). Just felt I was going to keep the torch lit for the rest of the 21st Century if I continue getting to into becoming this uber animatino historian or such.
Yeah, those Korean anime knock-off titles you’ve listed are also classics too (I dare anyone to pick up Johnny Destiny)!
Thanks for the letter Chris. I think it’s pretty necessary to keep the torch for Streamline lit. In fact, I was throwing around the idea of doing a “dubs then and now” segment with paying particular attention to some of the classic Streamline dubs like Project Eden which I’m still convinced is better than the original Japanese track. Just an idea though.
The comment about VHS being the first time people could watch p0rn in the privacy of their home is false.
They’re called STAG REELS. There was an industry of 8mm and 16mm p0rn films from as early as the 20s sold in men’s magazines. These stag reels would sometimes be sold with viewers or projectors so people could watch p0rn in the priavcy of their homes.
VHS…geez…
Gerald said…
Thanks for the letter Chris. I think it’s pretty necessary to keep the torch for Streamline lit. In fact, I was throwing around the idea of doing a “dubs then and now” segment with paying particular attention to some of the classic Streamline dubs like Project Eden which I’m still convinced is better than the original Japanese track. Just an idea though.
That’s not a bad idea! There are some Streamline dubs I tend to enjoy watching outside their Japanese originals (Lensman comes to mind, at least I thought the dub was tolerable in a few places). One I wish someone could release again is “Robot Carnival” (the way ADV scooped up Neo-Tokyo, I had some hopes they’d tackle this too).
Only 2 episodes and you’ve got industry people writing in the show
Hopefully if I become an anime dub VA, I can be another anime industry person who writes onto the show (or I could be a 4th host…….please?)
I want to point out I made that comment about industry contacts writing into the show.
I accidently choose “Anonymous” rather than “Other”
Bothering to go back and listen to a review from nearly 5 years ago, here’s some thoughts about Hols, Prince of the Sun
Hearing Daryl mention what kind of mindset is needed to see a movie this “old”, I couldn’t help but think of those movies they played on MST3K like “The Day The Earth Froze” (a.k.a. “Sampo”) or perhaps “Jack Frost”, if only for the type of story and approach this film has, based on or loosely based on folktales and/or myths.
They certainly do have a lot of action especially in the first 20 minutes of the film. Though by the time you get to the 30 minute mark, you just wonder why with the sudden static drawings of the wolves attacking the village, as if you were seeing an “animatic” being finished in color without any attempt to actually ‘finish’ the darn thing, and it’s pretty likely this sort of still-frame panning job was what became the basis for anime that followed for decades. There’s still some pretty good scenes to enjoy, and I find it interesting the type of layered panning backgrounds/cels they had for many shots to evoke a 3-D like appearance (though nothing like Nobody’s Boy Remi and it’s patented technique).
The theme of socialist unity among the public is very present in this film and in the way the villagers eventually come to help Hols in his battle against Grunwald and his evil magic. Interesting you didn’t mention Hilda in this film, who turns out to be Grunwald’s sister, but who’s personal opinions is rather mixed due to meeting Hols, and the ways of the villagers she meets.
If it’s one thing that does slow down the film a bit, or feels like it doesn’t belong, is animal sidekicks, let alone talking animal sidekicks, which we get plenty off with Hols having some bear chum and a chatty squirrel who hangs out with Hilda, but this was the 60’s and it was the call of the day (I could tolerate it more in films like Jack and the Witch since it works with those stories).
A while back I managed to locate a 16mm film print of the English version of this film (labeled “Little Norse Prince”) from it’s original usage as part of American-International Television’s syndication package of movies that included other Toei gems like Puss ‘n Boots, Animal Treasure Island and Jack and the Witch. The dub pretty much features the same Titan Productions crew with Billie Lou Watt, Corrine Orr and others with Fred Ladd supervising the thing, and it’s pretty top notch all around. I also managed to find this pretty cool clipping from a TV Guide back in the early 70’s for the film’s broadcast on a station in town.
http://vintagetoledotv.squarespace.com/print-ads-wdho/wdho-tv-24-print-ads/3475356
I’ve been watching anime for 18 years. I’ve owned anime on VHS (Tenchi Muyo!, for example) that came with a mini key chain inside. Outside of conventions, I believe the first sources to purchase anime locally in the Dallas metro area before the Internet was Suncoast. Being a kid without a job, money from chores was far off the margin of being able to purchase anime back in the 90’s.
Touching on the fansubs topic: I wasn’t much of a Torrenter. I was more engrossed in reading manga. As far as money goes, instead of buying CDs or DVDs I invested my money in manga solely because I am a person who can pick up a manga that I’ve read 100+ times and still enjoy it as if I was reading it for the first time. Over time the price in manga did lower. I can remember buying a copy of Oh! My Goddess for $17.99 retail for 1 volume, though the print size was larger then the average specs of manga. I was more on mIRC getting direct downloads from bots. I reached a point of reading raw scanlations due to the new aspect of not having to wait for series to release in the States. The peak of my content downloading was live dramas. At one point I downloaded so many live drama series I overloaded one of my drives with not enough space, thus losing my entire content on the drive.
As far as anime downloads, that was rare for me due to the (as mentioned in this podcast) promo discs in Newtype magazines, Anime Network, Toonami/CN/[as], and the money aspect. I do remember downloading the Prince of Tennis OVA. A great sports anime! I was heartbroken when the series was dropped from fansubs (though legally the right thing to do) because Toonami royally botched the dub where the essence of the anime lost its soul. That was frustrating because to me, all the kids or anyone watching Prince of Tennis for the first time on TV were truly missing out on the real Prince of Tennis.
So all in all I feel I wasn’t a hyper fansub consumer, though it was a place for content that you could rarely find anywhere else if you were wanting to look into something, unless you knew someone. Let’s say I had to battle my parents for getting my first job. After learning to be financially responsible my room decor went a 180 and my love for anime was shown. Thus reaching a point where I would purchase anime in box sets.